


Memories of a dream

by Semitura



Category: Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death In Dream, Chrome in the modern world, Chrome is my fav chara, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Dreams vs. Reality, Emotional Roller Coaster, Feelings, Fever Dreams, Gen, No Beta We Die Like Byakuya, Not Beta Read, Panic Attacks, References to Illness, Senku has feelings, Sickfic, Temporary Character Death, japenese honorifics are used because I am a weeb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28987230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Semitura/pseuds/Semitura
Summary: Chrome gets to time-travel in his dreams.This takes place in the Perseus building arc, near the anniversary of petrification day (June 3rd)
Relationships: Chrome & Everyone
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22





	1. Strange world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic in a long time, have mercy.  
> English is my second language, so again, please have mercy with me!  
> I tried my best ;u;  
> Enjoy the emotional trip like I did! :D

**JUNE 1ST, DREAM WORLD**

Blue skies, soft late spring breeze and green trees everywhere. Since he was young, Chrome would have very vivid dreams. Sometimes, he could travel to the forest near the village or go to the other side of the very tall mountain. It felt so real every time, he could smell the flowers, feel the breeze, hear the birds singing... It was like being there.

But this time was different: He found himself in an unknown place. There were tall square structures with wood-like colours, the floor was even, like a reddish brick wall, but on the floor. Some flowers had colours and shapes Chrome had never seen before, but some of them were familiar. The trees were green dots, in a perfect row on the middle of this path, small shiny grey sticks surrounding them, as if they were guarding them against people. Were these trees dangerous?

He walked for a while, when he spotted a group of three persons in weird, matching clothes. He had never seen these people before and he was shocked when he saw one of them had brown skin. His dreams were always realistic, something deep inside of him told him all of this was real, but how could there be that kind of... it took him a while to process the fact he was seeing people. Of course, sometimes he could see the people of the village or the stone people, but he never saw outsiders, he never saw someone that he didn't know.

It took another to process the fact that he wasn't familiar with the landscape, and yet, it felt real. Deep inside, he knew this was a real place.

Then, he remembered the world Senku told him about, he began to identify stuff from the old world in his dream: pavement, building, fence, uniforms.

Somehow, he was in the old world, the world before the collapse, the world Senku was born and raised in. He didn't know how or why, but maybe, just for today, he was able to see the world as his mentor once knew it.

The group seemed to notice him and the brown-skinned boy with black hair and brown eyes approached him with a smile.

"Hey there, are you the transfer student? The teacher told us there was going to be one and you look new around here. If you aren't familiar with the city, you could come with us, we go to the same high-school, see?" The boy pointed to a weird symbol on his black coat. "What do you say?"

The whole group looked at him, waiting for an answer. Chrome froze. Not only was he able to perfectly understand whoever was speaking to him, but there were two rules to his overly-realistic dreams:

1\. People didn't seem to be able to see him. He could touch everything, including people, but people were never able to see him.

2\. He couldn't speak in dreams. He tried, but his voice didn't seem to work in his dreams.

This dream already broke rule one by having everyone’s eyes on him, not to say that a person was speaking to him.

Chrome tried to speak, and a single "ok" escaped his mouth. The boy took Chrome's hand and welcomed him into the group.

"This is Arata Hikari" the boy pointed to a red-haired girl with green eyes.

"This is Fujiwari Kenta" he pointed to the boy with a weird black-square device at his hands, he had brown hair, brown eyes and glasses.

"And I'm Goda Takeshi" he pointed to himself, proudly. "What about you?"

Chrome was confused for a moment, but then he remembered Gen and Senku: they also had those funny-sounding second names. What did Ruri call them? Surnames. Wait, did that mean he would also need one? He couldn't just say 'Chrome', could he? He thought for a moment. He couldn't say 'Ishigami', but it also needed to sound legit.

"I'm um...Kinzoku?...yeah! Kinzoku Chrome!"

There was a weird silence that broke up when someone else came out from the building the group was waiting in front of.

"Sorry, sorry! I was looking for my headband and I couldn't find it, so I looked behind the bed and it was there!"

The group looked at the girl, Hikari sighted.

"Yeah, but if we hurry up, we may be able to get in just in time!" she added as Chrome took a while to process who this girl was: long, brown hair, with matching brown eyes and a familiar white headband with rolls at each side. He recognised her immediately: Yuzuriha. His doubts were washed away at that moment, he was truly in the old world.

Yuzuriha looked exactly like Chrome remembered, only with longer hair.

"Oh, who's the new guy?" Yuzuriha asked, pointing at Chrome.

"Oh, it's the transfer student. Kinzoku-san, this is Ogawa Yuzuriha, she's the arts and crafts club leader. Hikari-san is also a member of arts and crafts" Takeshi answered.

Yuzuriha looked at the new guy. He looked like he worked on a farm all his life: a Japanese headband on his spiky black hair, brown eyes, tannish skin (at least the tannest someone from Japan could get), the smell of trees and dirt, long-faded bruises everywhere and the body of someone who does a healthy amount of exercise almost every day.

"Nice to meet you, Kinzoku-san!" Yuzuriha extended a hand, waiting for a handshake. Chrome seemed to have trouble understanding her gesture, further pointing at a life out of the city.

"You seem from outside the city, where do you come from, Kinzoku-san?"

Shit. He couldn't say he was from a village that happens to have Senku's surname, right? He needed some cover.

"I'm from a village...um...in the south...Ishi...mura...Ishimura village! It's really small, so it's not even on the maps. It's ok if you don't know about it!"

"I knew you were from a village! You must really like it, since you are still wearing your headband even in the city" Yuzuriha smiled as, for the first time, Chrome realized what he was wearing: he was wearing the same clothes as Takeshi and Kenta, all-black outfit with a coat, long pants and shoes, with a short-sleeved white t-shirt under it. The only thing he preserved from his original outfit was his white headband, tight around his brown hair and a brown bag, but it was bigger than his usual containers and it was square-shaped.

"Hey, don't want to be late to your first day, right, new guy? Come on, let's hurry" Hikari began to walk, leaving the group behind. The rest followed.

There was little to no conversation between Chrome and the rest of the group while walking to their destination. Chrome had no idea where he was, why he was there, or where he was headed. It was then when the group started to question Chrome.

"Where is your village?"

"Near the sea"

"Did you come alone?"

"Yes"

"What about your family?"

"Everyone in the village is my family, they'll be fine without me"

"Did you go to school?"

"I attended a small school in my village"

"Are you going to join a club?"

"What is a club?"

Chrome had heard the world earlier in the day, but he had no idea of what it was.

"There weren't clubs at your school? It's like a group of people that do a thing after school. For example, we do all kinds of art and crafts! Like sculptures and paintings" explained Kenta.

Chrome's eyes lightened up. If Yuzuriha was here, that means **he** was also there, somewhere in this ‘high-school’. Without a doubt, he answered:

"Is there a science club?"

Yuzuriha laughed

"Yes, I know the club's leader personally. I'm sure he'll be glad to have a new member!"

The group seemed to doubt Yuzuriha's words.

"I'll give him an hour" prompted Hikari

"Nah, more like fifteen minutes" continued Takeshi

"One day, barely, and he won't go back" finished Kenta.

Chrome had no idea what they were talking about.

"Well, we're here"

Chrome needed a minute to process what he was seeing: a white building that seemed to reach to the sky, with glass panels perfectly aligned and a square-shaped hole that led to the inside. There were a pair of metallic doors with something in a sideways 'L' shape attached to them. A huge tree by the entrance guarded the building and a person guarded the entrance: a huge metal fence that seemed to be the border between the school and the outside world. For Chrome, this was going into unknown territory, he felt like he just discovered a new cave. He couldn't wait to see what kind of treasure we would find inside.

"Hurry up, or I'll close the gate on you!" The gate guard spoke out. The group hurried up to the inside, but Chrome seemed to be in the clouds. Takeshi took his hand, leading him inside while he still was looking around and didn't seem aware of anything else.

"This is baad..." Chrome whispered.

"It will be if we're late. You're in our class, so get changed and follow us" Takeshi answered. The view changed to huge metal boxes stacked in rows and in 2 columns, leaving small wood paths in the middle. Chrome saw as everyone opened one of the boxes and changed their shoes to white ones.

"Oh, you have a locker, right?" Takeshi asked.

"A what?" Chrome replied.

"A locker! You must have the key somewhere, I'll help you find it if you need to"

Chrome tried to understand what Takeshi was talking about. Locker? Key? He tried to calm down and focused on finding this 'key'. He looked at his bag and opened it. He was confused when inside it he saw various colourful boxes that varied side made up from a soft material with worlds like 'Math', ’Japanese’ and 'History'. He also found some kind of pouch with a strange mechanism and something dangling at the side. He tried putting it to the other side and then it opened, he did it once again and it closed. Once he understood the enigma behind this weird closing mechanism, he opened it again.

Inside it, there were different coloured rods, most of them covered by some sort of cap. He also had a square thing and for some reason, he also had his favourite rock: a small reddish gem, in an oval shape. It was like a personal charm to him and Senku called it a ruby, so that was its name now. He was glad to have his ruby with him. He grabbed it and placed it in a small chest pocket in his coat, to always have it near-by.

He also found another thing: a square white thing that felt like plastic attached to some sort of metallic thing with bumps on it. Chrome flipped the plastic thing and there, written in paper, he could read the number 100.

Chrome realised that the metal boxes also had numbers, so he searched for his metal box. Chrome's box was at the lower row, next to 101. He noticed the smell of several chemicals at his neighbour's metal box. He opened it and there they were: a pair of white shoes of his size. He changed them easily and followed his new friends to their next destination.

Wooden floor, white walls, glass panels, wooden doors with glass panels that seemed to lead inside another room....for once, Chrome felt like he **was** in a dream. He never had this feeling before, but now, in this unknown world, he felt like nothing of what he was seeing was real. He could touch textures he never felt before, he could hear voices he never heard before, the smell of the air was so different... Everything was so real, yet felt like he was dreaming. He didn't want to wake up, he wanted to know more about everything, he wanted to know why he was there, he wanted to know more about this strange, new world.

There was someone waiting at the door. He had white-ish hair, black eyes and a white scientist coat (or at least that's how Senku described them to him) and seemed to look at some kind of thing on his wrist.

"You're late. I guess you were showing the new guy around? Don't be late next time" he spoke.

"Yes, Faraday-sensei..." The group answered in unison, before going inside the small room. Chrome wanted to stop them, but he was stopped by the teacher.

"I'm going to introduce you to the class, so you come in with me." For a minute, their eyes met and Chrome could feel a shiver down his spine, he could feel like this guy was up to no good.

Faraday went into the class and Chrome followed.

"Stay here" Faraday made his way to the teacher's table, giving the class a minute to give a look to the new guy.

The sight was of tables and chairs, with a chalkboard covering the wall behind him, it read 'JUNE 1ST, CLEANING DUTY: HIROKASU KURARA & OKI TAIJU. TODAY: NEW TRANSFER STUDENT', just like the science class Senku gave back in Ishigami (or was it Ishimura now?) village. The walls were white, you could see the huge tree from the glass panels. There were at least 30 of them, counting himself. But he only had eyes for two of them:

The first one that caught his attention was a buff guy with short, brown spiky hair and marching brown eyes sitting in the second row, showing a wide smile and waving him, welcoming him in silence to the class. Taiju.

The other one was a guy sitting in the front row near the window, with spiky white hair with green ends, red eyes and looking at him with a mild interest in his eyes. Senku.

Chrome could feel tears starting to fall in his face: finally, some known faces to this strange, unknown world.

Everyone at the class immediately started whispering about the new guy, Taiju seemed worried, Senku seemed surprised. Chrome didn't understand why the class was reacting like that until he realised he just started crying in front of a bunch of strangers. He cleaned his face with his arms.

"Excuse me, something got into my eyes, must be the air" he tried to excuse himself.

He could see Taiju sighting with relief and he almost got to hear Senku's understanding _"aah..."_

The class fell silent for a moment

"Well then...go on, introduce yourself," the professor said, leaning to the wall near his desk.

He knew what to do, Senku had already taught them how school introductions were made in the old world. He began writing his name in the chalkboard, and then remembered he also had to write his surname first, so he did. Once again, he faced the class. He could see his new friends, along with the two familiar faces he could spot in the class.

"Um... I'm Kinzoku Chrome...17...from Ishimura village...I want to be in the science club. It's a pleasure to meet you!" He bowed, trying to hide his excitement and embarrassment at the same time.

For a second, he looked up, only focusing on the fact that Senku was smiling at him. He knew that smile: it was his crazy scientist side, wondering what kind of stuff he could try on the new guy, but also excited to get a new science pal.

"Right, you can sit down there" the teacher pointed at a free seat, just by Senku's side. He didn't notice that it was the only free spot in the classroom.

Chrome nodded and placed his bag near the desk, sitting down. For a moment, he contemplated the desk in complete wonder, noticing a small compartment that was perfect for his bag, so he placed it inside of it. He took a deep breath and dared to look at his neighbours.

At his right, there was a girl with short, pink hair and matching pink eyes. She smiled at Chrome.

"Hirokasu Kurara, leader of the football team. It's a pleasure to meet you! If you have any trouble at English, I can also help!"

Then, he looked at his left and there he was: his friend, his mentor, the one that helped him so much and taught him about science. It was the first time that Chrome saw Senku without his distinctive face marks.

"Ishigami Senku. Leader of the science club. I'll show you to the laboratory after class since you're joining us. It's a pleasure to meet you"

His voice, his manners...no doubt: it was Senku. He wanted to reply, but then a weird ringing sound came from everywhere.

"Stand up," Kurara's voice said. Everyone in the class stood up. "Bow" in unison, the class bowed, followed by a "Good morning, sensei", "sit down", everyone sat down. Chrome tried to follow everyone, but he was too freaked out by whatever that sound was and just sat down, trying to understand what was going on.

Senku giggled as he saw the new guy freak out. Then, he saw as the boy looked at him, almost _begging_ for an explanation.

"Chill, that's how school bells are around here," Senku explained.

Chrome just let out an "aah...", Still trying to process the sound.

The first class began. It was math. Chrome was **glad** it was math. Finally, something he was good at. Or not, since the weird-looking equations in the chalk-board looked like an ancient, forgotten alien language. Thing is he could understand some of it, but the other half was nonsense to him. He tried to catch up to this 'integrals' stuff, trying to understand the formulas behind their resolution. Then, the teacher pointed at him.

"Why don't you come to solve this problem, Kinzoku-kun?" He prompted, with an almost evil-looking smile to his face. "Unless you can't?" He followed.

Chrome stood up and took the chalk. He stared at the board for a few seconds and began resolving. It took several minutes of trying to figure out what he was even doing, but he didn't give up. He finished the problem and looked at the professor, seeking his approval. The teacher looked at Senku.

"You never studied this before, right? You get ten billion points for getting it right, Kinzoku-san" he concluded. Chrome couldn't be happier. He got it right! He had Senku's approval! The whole class looked impressed, for the matter.

"Not bad," said the teacher. "But your solving method was primitive"

"I'm not surprised" Chrome did not realize he said that out loud until a few seconds later.

"To your seat. Let's continue the lesson"

Chrome followed the instructions.

The rest of the morning went by, with history next. He was amazed by tales of the past, so he paid extra attention and asked a lot of questions. The teacher seemed happy with the boy's curiosity.

Then, it came: again, the 'bell' sounded and everyone seemed relieved. Some of the students went out, some of them went to talk to the teacher. Some of them remained on their chairs.

And then, suddenly, there was a group of people surrounding Chrome. They began to ask him questions that Chrome didn't have time to answer, they argued between each other about him and their questions started to overlap.

Everything became blurry, he tried to focus his eyes, but he couldn't until he had to close his eyes to avoid a headache. The voices began to fade away and were replaced with a loud beeping sound, the noise was too much for him. He tried to cover his ears, but the noise was unbearable.

He felt like the air around him became heavier, making it difficult to breathe. The temperature began to rise and he could feel like the space around him became smaller and smaller, like being trapped in the smallest corridor in a cave in the middle of a hot summer afternoon.

He wanted to say something, but he felt a knot in his throat, and for the first time since the dream began, he couldn't speak. He wanted to wake up, he needed to wake up. He wanted it to-

"Stop" a voice broke through the dark.

"Don't you see you're making him anxious?" It was Taiju.

"Come on, let's go" His vision was still blurry, but he could feel Taiju's hand on his arm as he pulled him from his seat. They began to walk and then, he heard Senku's voice:

"Are you ok?"

He couldn't answer, so he negated with his head.

"Let's get him to the roof, he needs fresh air"

For the rest of the way, he could hear Taiku and Senku talking to him about trivial stuff, and his vision seemed to get better.

"What's your favourite food?" Asked Taiju

"Ramen", he answered

"Did your parents name you Chrome or is it a nickname?" Asked Senku

"It's my name. Always has been" he answered

"What's your favourite TV show?" Asked Taiju

"I... don't watch TV" he answered

"Wait, what do you do for fun, then?"

"I...I'm an explorer. I like to explore caves and that stuff. I have a rock collection" he answered

"Oh, that's a cool thing. What kind of rocks do you have?"

Chrome listed all the rocks, gems, crystals, etc. that he could remember. He showed them the small ruby that he kept in his pocket.

"Whoa, this is the real stuff! Did you find this? That's kind of amazing" Senku grabbed the ruby and looked at it with awe. Where did this kid get something like this?

"My collection is bad," Chrome concluded.

They arrived at the roof and Taiju let Chrome sit on the cloth where Yuzuriha was waiting.

"Is he ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, he had a panic attack, so he needs to rest," Senku diagnosed.

Chrome took a while to process everything that was happening to him. The world came back to normal slowly but steady. When everything was over, he looked at the three familiar faces staring at him.

"Um...thanks for getting me out of there" he smiled.

"No worries, I noticed you were in trouble, so I helped. Do you...I mean...has this...happened before?" Taiju seemed worried.

"No... this was the first time something like this ever happened...there were too many people...I think I couldn't handle it" Chrome answered.

"So I was right about the panic attack," added Senku.

Chrome looked at the colourful cloth at his feet, with three boxes with round borders at the top of it. The boxes were decorated in different styles: one of them had pink flowers in a white background, other had a grey stick with huge, black circles at both sides and had a metallic grey background, the last was black with white dots all around it with a logo in blue, white and red that spelt 'NASA'.

"Care to have lunch with us?" Yuzuriha asked. Chrome nodded, his stomach empty and growling.

He tried to search in his bag and there it was: a small brown-ish cloth and inside, a box with different coloured gems drawn on it. Who made this? He didn't know. He assumed it was dream logic.

The quartet began eating.

The conversation topic seemed to flow from latest news, class, TV shows and stories about Chrome's expeditions.

"Hey, um...is it ok if I call you by your names?" Chrome knew and in the old world, calling someone by their first name was kind of rude if you didn't know them, so he tried not to slip up, but it was becoming harder by the minute.

"I don't care" started Senku

"Of course!" Continued Taiju

"Only if we get to use yours as well" finished Yuzuriha.

"Of course, you can call me Chrome"

The conversation re-started, but now Chrome could speak easily using the names he knew and recognized. He didn't know how weird it truly was for him to call Senku like his village.

"So you're telling me... that your village...is literally called...stone village" Inquired Senku

"Doesn't your surname kinda translate to 'stone god'?" Asked Chrome

"And yours is literally 'metal'"

"Touchè"

Everyone laughed. Then the bell rang once again, announcing the end of recess.

"Ok, time to go back. Let's pack up" Senku stood up and began making his way to class.

"Wait for me!" Taiju followed

Chrome and Yuzuriha were left to pick up everything.

"So, are you enjoying your first day of class?" She asked.

"...yeah, I am" he answered with a smile.

When they picked up everything, they also made their way to class.

The afternoon was boring, with English and P.E. As expected, he was average in English. Not good, but he could defend himself.

P.E was different. Most of the class (except the sporty ones, including Taiju and Kurara) couldn't keep up with him.

"What did you expect from a boy that works in the camp?" One of the students asked.

Chrome saw how poorly Senku performed on P.E. He wasn't good at it. Like-at all. He couldn't run for 3 minutes straight without getting tired. It was almost amusing, but Chrome did not laugh. He knew that exercise was Senku's weakness, but he has a bunch of strengths that outweigh that weakness.

Classes ended (not before another mini heart-attack for Chrome, he will never be able to get used to the bell sound) and Senku seemed to come back to life when Chrome asked about the science club.

They changed clothes and Senku guided Chrome trough the building. For the first time, Chrome had time to investigate, as Senku and himself were relatively alone and seemed as if Senku kind of understood Chrome's position: the new guy in a strange world.

"What's this?"

"That's a window. There aren't any windows in your village or what? Or maybe they don't have glass as we do..."

"What's this?"

"That's a fountain. You get water from it"

Chrome took a moment to interact with it, and Senku happily explained how it worked to him.

"What's that?"

"That's a cellphone. You don't have one?"

"Our village has a phone! I have a...well...I have a phone, but it doesn't look like that!" He pointed to the small, black box that Senku identified as a cellphone.

"Ah, yeah. You probably haven't seen a smartphone in your life" Senku theorised.

"What's this?"

"... that's....a pencil case, the top is called a zipper. Those are pens, a pencil and a rubber."

"And this?"

"....books??...how do you **not** know what a book is?"

"I know what books are, but they look different in my village" Chrome excused

"Then it's not a book, it's a notebook" Senku debated.

"What's the difference?"

"Nevermind" Senku gave up.

When they arrived at the lab, Senku turned to Chrome. Their eyes met once again.

"Well, welcome to the science lab" When Senku opened the door, Chrome couldn't believe what was in front of him:

The glass equipment looked familiar, a model of the human body in real scale, a telescope but smaller? a cabinet with several chemicals, weird-looking metal tubes that let into holes in the desks. Senku only saw Chrome's eyes light up as he tried to speak, but couldn't.

"This isn't a lab, this is paradise" the boy concluded. Senku could only smile at him.

"Yeah, I bet you don't see something like this in your ti-... I mean, your village" he winked.

Chrome went into the room and looked at Senku with eyes that screamed 'Can I **please** touch **everything**?'. Senku seemed to understand.

"Just don't mess with someone's experiment. You're free to explore" Senku placed a finger to his ear, seeing as his new member investigated everything in the room with wonder and excitement.

He started with the metal tubes and the desk holes. He saw a little metal L and tried to rotate it. Nothing happened. He tried to pull it and water came out of the tube. He tried rotating the handle and was surprised when the temperature of the water changed. He had fun realising that the amount of water that came out the metal tube varied with how much you pulled the metal L.

Everyone in the lab room looked at him like he just lost his mind, why was this guy freaking out about how a sink works? It was weird. At least, everyone except Senku.

"What kind of primitive village doesn't have a sink?" a familiar voice, Kenta's, asked out loud. Chrome froze. He didn't know how to answer.

"His village is probably in the middle of the woods or something" Senku theorized "the guy was freaking out over windows and the water fountain earlier"

Chrome let out a nervous laugh. With his lab coat on, Senku finally looked like himself. He extended another to Chrome.

"Put this on. You're helping me with something"

Chrome could feel as the air became heavier, everyone gazing upon him. It was like an omen. Chrome finally understood what Kenta and the others were talking about this morning: how long would he survive in the science club. Chrome had already worked with Senku, so how hard could it be?

Senku couldn't understand how this kid managed to get so far. He was 17, so it was likely his second time in 10th grade ((AN: equivalent to 1st year of high school)). His knowledge seemed to vary from 'I have lived in the woods all my life' to 'I could get straight As without studying'

He only knew about some of the lab equipment with little to no knowledge about the rest of it, he didn't know about half the elements of the periodic table, but he seemed familiar with some chemicals and the process of obtention.

It was weird that he didn't know about windows, sinks or pencil cases, but he knew about vacuum tubes and hydraulic generators.

He was smart, a quick learner, he could figure things out on his own without the need of telling him. He had trouble trying to understand some stuff, but using different wording or just showing him how it was made would make the trick.

It was weird.

Senku tried to understand why Chrome knew about some stuff but was completely unaware of the rest. He had to know.

"Chrome...tell me the truth. Have you been to school?"

Chrome didn't seem to understand the question.

"I mean...you know about some stuff, but that's about it. How did you not know what a zipper was? Or a pencil case? And yet, you seemed to know about cars, generators, tanks..."

Chrome didn't know how to answer. If he lied, Senku would notice. If he said the truth, Senku would think he was crazy. He tried to figure something out. Then, he remembered Gen. What would he do? He would tell him the truth, but not fully. A half-truth, half-lie could work. Chrome gave it a thought and chose his words carefully.

"I live in a village far away from civilization. We lived like a primitive village, with no technology. It was like being in the stone age. Then, something happened. One of the villagers, Ruri, became really sick.

I tried to find something to heal her, but I couldn't. Then, I remembered how Ruri would always talk about the outside world, a world that could have the cure we were looking for. So Kohaku, her sister, went to the city to find someone that could help us. She found a scientist. He agreed to help.

So this scientist came, but there was a problem: The village didn't allow anything or anyone from the outside come in, so the scientist had to figure out how to make everything he needed from 0. This scientist taught me about his world, the scientific world he came from. We worked hard to make a sulfa drug from 0.

He made incredible things: lightbulbs from Bambu, glasses from sand, a generator... He started teaching us how to write and read a couple of months ago. It has been almost a year since he arrived ... What an amazing year it has been.

Of course, I was always interested in how things worked, I called myself a sorcerer. I collected all kinds of stuff and tried everything, I tried to understand the world...he told me that what I did wasn't sorcery, it was science. So I became a scientist. He changed my whole life. He changed the life of the whole village."

Chrome looked at Senku. The duo didn't notice how everyone else in the lab was listening carefully to the sweet story that Chrome was telling. When he was done, everyone returned to their work as quickly as possible.

"He's still there?" Senku asked.

"He's our new leader. He made new friends and found a new home in Ishiga...I mean, Ishimura village. Over time, more people from the outside world have come to stay at our village to help the scientist on his task. Others came to stop him. We have faced many trials..." Chrome answered, trying his best to cover his slip-up.

"So, a primitive civilization that's being slowly introduced to the outside world?" Senku concluded.

"Yes"

"Why are you here, then?" Senku could feel Chrome twitching.

"I...came to see. I was too curious. One of the outsiders helped me with the transfer and bought me everything I needed for school" Chrome's answer didn't seem to satisfy Senku.

"I must say, I admire your determination." Senku glared to the rest of the group.

"Come on, we still have a lot of work to do"

The rest of the evening went by with silence. Chrome could feel the occasional glare, but no one dared to ask anything or say anything. It was quiet, too quiet.

When the bell rang, everyone started to pack up and leave, with a simple 'see you tomorrow', or 'later'.

Chrome and Senku were the last people in the lab. For the first time since this experience began, the two scientists of the stone world were alone. They began to clean up the lab equipment in silence and got out of the lab in unison. Chrome followed Senku through the halls, down the stairs, to a room where he entered, left the keys to the lab, and got out.

The walk to the entrance was as quiet as before. Senku opened his locker, changed shoes and started to walk away. Chrome noticed the number of Senku's locker when he opened: 101. Was it a coincidence that their lockers were side-by-side? Chrome also changed his shoes (not without a struggle to figure out where the key was or how the thing worked, it seemed more difficult than when did it this morning for some reason) and got out of school.

Now what? He had no place to go, no place to return. He started walking the way back to the street he woke himself in, maybe then he would be able to figure out which way to go. When he arrived, he stood there for a while.

He was alone in this street, the lonesome company of the trees and the street lights (that's how Senku called the huge rods with lightbulbs on them back in his village). The sun was setting and he had no place to go.

He tried to process everything that had happened to him that- night? Day? Well, everything that happened since he found himself in this strange, modern world.

He began to process the smells, the sounds, everything he could see and touch. For the first time, he found himself in a strange unknown world. He felt lost and alone. There was no one there to help him, no one that cared about him.

He tried his best to hold himself together, but his body was already on the ground shanking, his tears wouldn't stop falling down and his breathing and heartbeat seemed out of control. Everything else faded away, he could only feel and hear his heart. The familiar, loud beeping on his ears returned. He hated everything. He hated everyone. Why? Why was he there? Why him? **Why? Why? Why? _Why?!_**

The thoughts only became louder and louder, echoing through his mind.

He could feel someone calling for him, but he couldn't hear them over the loud voices on his head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Ishimura literally translates to 'stone village'  
> 2\. Kinzoku literally translates to 'metal'


	2. Two worlds

**JUNE 2ND, REALITY**

Ah, yes, another peaceful morning on the Kingdom of Science.

Senku woke up like usual, the sun shining on his face. He yawned and stretched before getting out of bed. He looked in the mirror and fixed his hair. It became almost a morning routine, but something seemed off about it. Something was missing. He looked to the ground to see Gen, still sleeping. He knew what he had to do. With a kick on his side, Gen woke up immediately.

"Rise and shine, mentalist. It's time to work" Senku added with an evil smile.

"Can't you wake me up like a normal person?", Inquired Gen.

"Ok, next time I'll wake you like Taiju usually wakes me up: screaming really loudly" replied Senku.

"You know what? Forget about it"

Gen also fixed his hair and made his bed, like usual.

"It's quiet today," Gen noticed

"Too quiet" Senku added

Both of them knew something was definitely off. It was always loud in the Kingdom of science. Of course, it was early morning and the duo could hear the sound of people starting to gather up for breakfast, children playing, Ginro and Kinro practising sparing with Kohaku... But there wasn't any noise coming from downstairs.

At this time, Chrome should already have woken them up. He liked to wake up early to gather materials and he was always moving stuff around, coming in and out of the shed. He would wake Senku up asking him about x and y and in the end, Senku would give up, wake up and help him with whatever he was doing.

Gen also became a victim of the duo making early morning experiments or waking up to Chrome screaming as a reaction to something that Senku said. But today, Chrome was quiet. Too quiet. Did he sleep in?

The duo went downstairs and found Chrome on his bed. Senku approached him and when he saw the state he was in, his face became paler. Chrome was sweating, his face was pale with red cheeks, nose and ears. He was barely breathing and seemed to be in pain, mumbling weakly. Touching it, his body was cold, but his forehead was as hot as the top of a turned-up stove.

"Oi, Chrome..." Senku tried to wake him up, but he didn’t. Chrome only turned his head slightly. Gen approached the duo calmly, understanding the situation.

"Is he sick?" Gen turned to Senku for an answer. The scientist sighed.

"Tsk...looks like a simple fever, but it could be almost anything. There's no knowing this kind of stuff in the Stone world", Senku diagnosed.

Gen sat down, staring at Chrome. He has never seen him so fragile, so weak. He was always the one that held up to anything, even death like it was nothing. It was hard to believe that something like a fever could bring him down that easily.

"So? What do we do?" Gen asked. Senku's brain started to work. He could always make more sulfa drugs, in the vain hope that Chrome could get better.

"For today, let's wait. Let's wait for this mysterious disease to develop, I can't throw medicine at him without knowing what is getting him, could be a simple reaction to an external agent or a bad body regulation.” He paused.

“For now, let's hope it's nothing serious and bring me some cold water, let's see if we can drop his temperature down" he concluded. Gen nodded, moving to the shed's exist.

"Should we tell the others, Senku-chan?" Gen asked. Senku thought of it.

"It's best if we tell them the truth. Together, we'll get rid of this mysterious fever"

Gen got out of the shed, grabbing an empty pot and approaching Kohaku.

"Kohaku-chan, I want you to do me a small favour~" the mentalist said with a sweet tone to his voice.

Kohaku looked at him. She knew he was up to no good.

"What do you need, mentalist?" She asked.

"Can you go to the hot springs and fill this pot with water? I'm afraid our dear Chrome-san has fallen ill" When Gen spoke out those words, the whole village seemed to stop. He said it loud enough for the whole village to hear the news: Chrome was ill.

"What?!" The village seemed to shout in unison.

"C-Chrome? You mean OUR Chrome?" Began Kinro.

"I knew he wasn't going to make it...what did Senku-san do to him??" Followed Ginro

"Of all of us, it had to be him..." Added Kaseki

"It can't be...Is he going to be ok? He is, right?" Suika asked nervously.

"Everyone, please- calm down. We'll do our best to make sure he recovers. Until then, we'll have to manage without him." Gen spoke loudly and clearly, his voice carried confidence and tranquillity.

"I'll go get the water. I'll speak with Senku later" Kohaku grabbed the pot and started to run towards the hot springs.

"Can we help?" Kinro asked.

"For now, keep working like usual. Completing the boat is our primordial task." Gen concluded.

That morning, the atmosphere was different. Everyone worked as usual, but there was no sight of the two scientists anywhere. Everything worsened when someone else came from the main island.

"I came as soon as I heard!" Exclaimed Ruri.

"Ruri? What are yo-" Kohaku didn't have time to finish the sentence. Ruri went straight to Gen.

"Is he ok? Will he wake up? Is he going to survive this?" Gen saw as Ruri broke down in tears, trying her best to speak as clearly as she could.

"I-..."

"Please, let me see him. He did so much for me, I want to be with him, too. Please..."

Gen sighed as he saw the priestess break down. He knew Chrome had a crush on Ruri and it seemed like the feeling was mutual.

"I'll...ask Senku. I'll see what I can do. No promises" the boy concluded. Gen made his way to the shed of science.

"Senku-chan?" Gen saw the scientist sitting down, with a pot full of water by his side, worry and fear written on his face. It was the first time that Gen saw Senku worrying about someone, at least the first time he truly saw Senku worrying about Chrome. It only showed the deep friendship bond they shared.

"Senku-chan?" Gen called again.

"Hm?" Senku turned to see him. "Ah, what do you want?"

"Um...Chrome has a visit. It's Ruri"

Senku felt like the entire world just fell down on him. How would he explain to Ruri Chrome's condition? How could he tell her he had no idea what he was going through?

"Let her in. I need a break" the scientist decided. Ruri went in still in tears, trying to be as quiet as possible. She approached Chrome carefully, touching his cheek.

"Oh, Chrome...."

Senku looked at the girl and explained the situation. Fairly enough, Ruri understood.

"It's ok Senku, it's ok to not know everything. I'll take care of him, you go take a break, ok?" Ruri tried to smile, but his face was red and tears were still falling down her face.

"I'll leave you two alone"

Senku stood up and got out of the shed, trying to hold it together. He walked down the forest, trying to find a place where he could be alone. When he was sure that no one could see him, he leaned on a tree, punching it. He held a hand to his face, tears starting to fall.

"Fuck" he let out. "Fuck..."

He didn't notice as Taiju and Yuzuriha watched from a distance.

Taiju has seen Senku break down only once before, and it was always because a scientific experiment went utterly wrong. He never saw him break down for anyone before, but he understood. After all, he almost lost Senku once too.

For Yuzuriha, Senku showing any kind of emotion was entirely new. Yes, the boy was cold, but there he was: crying over a sick friend. Taiju tried to approach him carefully, placing a hand to his shoulders. He saw as Senku’s eyes met his own ones and smiled.

"It's ok, Senku," he paused, nodding his head in approval "It's going to be ok" He didn't expect his friend to hug him. He tried to return it as gently as he could. He didn't want to break any of his bones. Yuzuriha didn't take long to join the group hug. Somehow, Senku knew that everything was going to be ok as long as he had them by his side.

* * *

**MAY 8TH, DREAM WORLD**

Darkness. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't feel anything. For a moment, he couldn't remember anything. Where? Who? When? Why? He tried to remember, but nothing came to his head.

He could hear someone singing, the voice of a man. It somehow filled him with nostalgia, a bittersweet memory that escaped the edge of his mind. Was he dreaming? Was this real? He didn't know.

He woke up, yet again in an unknown place. He was staring into a white ceiling, the sight of a lighted up lamp over him. The walls were covered in a light blue, with a poster of an object that kinda looked like the flag of the Kingdom Of Science. He could hear someone opening the door.

He saw an old man, maybe in his 50s, approaching him with a smile. Chrome looked at his clothes. They were modern, like the clothes François made: Long, tight blue pants and a white shirt with buttons. He had white hair with grey ends, a black beard and a pair of brown eyes that brought back his memories in an instant: The street, his new friends, the school, the lab, feeling lost...

Somehow, this man made Chrome feel like he was home, like everything was going to be ok, that he had nothing to worry about, that he was safe and he could stay there forever if he wanted to. He made him feel like he belonged in this strange room.

"I see you're up" the old man spoke. Chrome could swear he had heard that voice before, but where?

"My son and I were coming back from shopping when we found you passed out in the street. We decided to bring you here. You're in my house. Please, make yourself at home" the old man smiled and Chrome heart’s melted. He knew that smile. He knew this man, but couldn’t seem to recall him at all.

"Why did you pass out? Where do you even come from? I've never seen those clothes before"

Chrome was confused. What did he mean? He looked at himself and he was wearing his usual outfit: blue shirt and pants, two brown pouches at each side, a white belt made from rope and his Japanese headband (haramaki) tightly tied around his hair. He couldn't seem to spot his white shoes, but he was sure they were somewhere else.

He felt like if he told this man the whole truth, if he told him about him being from a stone world, that he wasn't even from this era, this man would believe him. He felt like he could tell this man the truth and he wouldn't even doubt him.

"I don't know." He confessed. "I was in my village and then I appeared here...I just want to go home" he broke down in tears. He could hear the old man sighting.

"It's ok" The man offered him another smile, patted his head and suddenly all of Chrome's worries washed away like a wave cleaning footprints in the sand. "We'll figure a way for you to go back home"

Chrome instantly believed him. He felt like everything coming out from this man's mouth was real, like he couldn't lie even if he wanted to. It filled him with confidence. A single "ok" came out of his mouth.

"Great" the man clapped. "Are you hungry? We're having ramen" The man helped Chrome stand up, guiding him through the small house and into a small room with a floor-levelled table.

"Sit down, I'm gonna get my son" the man closed the paper door and for a moment, Chrome was alone. But this time was different. The small room was filled with nostalgia, the familiar smell of ramen coming out from somewhere else.

He sat down by the table, looking at the room. It wasn't that big, maybe for 5 people at maximum. A small black box stood on the top of a wood cabinet. The glass door led to the outside, where something was being built.

Chrome stood up, opened the door and rushed out to admire the invention. It was made of metal, and it looked like a cone with a hat. The same shape that the Kingdom of Science flag had. Chrome recognized it immediately, as Senku would talk non-stop about them: it was a rocket.

Something was written in red at one of the sides, but Chrome couldn’t read it. He could make up the number ‘3’, tho. Chrome was fascinated at the invention, he was happy to be able to see a real rocket (or was it a dream rocket?) with his own eyes.

"So bad..." He let out. He didn't notice he was being observed until a familiar voice spoke up.

"Cool, right? I wouldn't recommend touching it a lot, that's a real rocket, so be careful, you could accidentally set it out and I'm looking forward to doing that tomorrow with a couple of friends."

Chrome’s heart almost stopped when he turned around to see his science mentor. He was wearing a blue shirt, with the 'NASA' logo on it, short, black pants and a white lab coat. The old man stood by his side.

"Come inside, you're gonna catch a cold if you stay outside barefooted," the old man said.

Chrome immediately listened to him and went inside, once again sitting in the middle of the table. He saw as the man and his mentor sat on opposite ends on the table. He gazed down to see a bowl of warm ramen. It smelled delicious and looked like food that came from the heavens, made by the gods.

"Itadakimasu", Senku and the man said in unison, as they began eating.

"We thank the land for this food", Chrome said in a prayer.

He gave the first bite to it. It was indescribable. It tasted a billion times better than the ramen that he usually had. It was so good that he started crying, trying to process what heavenly food he was eating. Senku stared at the stranger surprised, but he thought that maybe this was the best thing he had in weeks, maybe more, so he just smiled and let it go.

"Is it good?" He asked. Chrome stared at him, quietly sobbing.

"Good? This is the baddest food I've ever had in my entire life," he confessed.

Senku and the man looked at each other, smiling. There were no questions, no anything. Just a mundane conversation over how good this ramen actually was. When the conversation died down, the man looked at him, never losing his warm smile.

"Do you have a name, boy?" He asked.

"Chrome. Just Chrome" he answered.

"No surname?" Senku wondered.

"There are no surnames in my village", Chrome explained.

"I'm Ishigami Byakuya," the man greeted. "And this is my son, Ishigami Senku" Senku offered a little wave. It took Chrome a whole minute to process the situation.

"I'm sorry" Chrome stated at Byakuya, "I must have misheard your name."

"Oh it's I-shi-ga-mi Bi-ya-ku-ya. You can call me Byakuya if you want, Chrome-kun"

Chrome's jaw dropped. Why didn't he realise sooner? That’s why his voice was familiar: he heard it before, on the message inside the glass record. This man was the founder of Ishigami village, Senku's father, and one of his ancestors. In front of him, he had a legend.

"Father..." Chrome didn't realise he said that out loud until it was too late and both Senku and Byakuya were staring at him, surprised and confused. They seemed to share a silent, understanding conversation between them. Byakuya smiled once again.

"Whatever works for you, kid", he replied.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, it's just that... it's... it's a long story, but...I'm sorry", Chrome tried to fix his mistake, but it was too late.

"Geez dad, since when do I have a sibling?" Senku inquired with a playful tone.

"I don't know, I never signed any adoption papers, maybe it's your long-lost sibling that your parents kept hidden from you" Byakuya followed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Are you sure he isn't yours?"

"I don't know, maybe he's the product of one of your scientific experiments and when he saw me when he woke up, he mistook me by his father"

Chrome seemed confused. Father and son shared a loud laugh.

"Don't worry, we're just messing around" Byakuya explained. "Come on, let's get you some proper sleep"

The trio walked down the corridor, where Senku opened the door at the end of it. The room was white, and it looked exactly like a science lab, except that there was a bed on one of the corners of the room, the only indicator that this was actually someone's bedroom.

"I'll get him a futon. Are you sure you want him to sleep in your room?" Byakuya looked at his son, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, you have a lot of work to do this night, right? We'll be fine on our own. I'll make sure we don't blow anything up." Senku replied. His father seemed happy with the answer.

Chrome went into the room and could smell the chemicals in the air, the smell of hot, melting metal and weeks of hard work. He knew that smell, it was the first time he actually smelled something so close to home since he arrived in this weird dream world. It smelled just like the lab back at the Kingdom Of Science.

"This is so bad, Senku. You have a full lab in your room..."

"If you want to, you can help me with a little something. I keep having trouble with a part of the rocket, but maybe, we'll figure it out together" Senku smiled as he saw Chrome's face lighted up with utter joy. It seemed like this mysterious kid called Chrome shared his same love for science.

"It would be my pleasure, Senku!"

"Get excited, then. Our night of hellish science has officially begun!"

The scientist duo started working together and Chrome finally felt like he was back at the Kingdom Of Science. Just the two of them trying to figure things out in their small lab. It was perfect. Byakuya only came in later, leaving a futon on the floor, alongside a blanket and a pillow.

"Don't go to sleep too late, guys," he advised.

Senku only answered with a simple "sure".

"We won't, mister" Chrome followed.

Byakuya seemed heartbroken by Chrome's words.

"Whatever happened to 'father'?"

"Wh **at?** Um...I mean...ok...dad????" Chrome seemed to rectify, blushing deeply. Byakuya let out a laugh.

"Sleep well, sons" with that, he closed the door.

They spent most of the night finishing the small metal square thing (Senku called it the 'circuit board') . When they were done, they high-fived and both of them went to their respective beds. Chrome could almost feel himself sinking in his futon, it was fluffy and it smelled like flowers.

"I'm gonna turn the light out," Senku warned. "Good night, Chrome". After a clicking sound, the room fell into darkness and silence.

Chrome took a moment trying to process everything that happened that evening. Everything was perfect, but still, there was something odd. He tried to sleep, but couldn't. He could see a faint light coming from one of the other rooms, so he went to investigate.

He came into the room, the only light was a desk lamp. He saw Byakuya as he wrote something down in a paper. There were papers all around his desk. He tried not to bother him, so he sat down and observed as the man continued working.

The silence was only broken down by the sound of writing, paper and Byakuya mumbling. Sometimes, he made a ball with the current paper and threw it up in a weird, huge metallic can. Byakuya stretched. He needed a break and a glass of water.

He turned just to see the mysterious boy he had picked up that same evening sitting on the floor, leaning against the door and peacefully sleeping. He only knew his name was Chrome, that he came from an isolated village and seemed to share the same love for science his son had. He moved the boy, trying to wake him up. Chrome yawned.

"Hey, you should get to bed," Byakuya told him.

"Mmhm," the boy replied. He lazily made his way to Senku's bedroom, got into the futon and continued sleeping. Byakuya stood there for a minute, admiring his son and his new friend sleeping together. 'So cute', he thought.

* * *

**JUNE 2ND, REALITY**

Afternoon fell upon the Kingdom of Science. Ruri had to go back to the village, back home. She looked at Senku as he made his way upstairs.

"Take care of him, ok? I'll come back tomorrow" Ruri offered a little bow, bidding her goodbye.

Senku didn't expect Chrome being awake when he got into the science shed. Suddenly, all his worries seemed to disappear like the clouds after a storm. He had to choose his words carefully, he didn't want to overwhelm the brunette. He knew how bad his panic attacks could get.

"How are you feeling, Chrome?" The scientist asked, almost whispering.

Chrome looked disoriented, confused. He looked at Senku and his world fell down once again. He didn't know why, but Senku felt like someone just stabbed his heart with a dagger.

"Senku? Where?..." His lab partner sounded weak, he was using the last strength he had in order to communicate.

"It's ok. You're home. You had me worried, you know?", Senku placed his hand on Chrome's forehead. "Seems like your fever has gotten down. That's good"

Chrome didn't seem to understand the situation. He laid down there, in his bed, trying to remember. Why was his memory so fuzzy? Senku saw Chrome struggling to understand his situation. He grabbed a little towel, throwing into Chrome's face.

"No thinking. Just resting for now" Senku instructed.

Chrome placed a hand in the cold towel. It was so cold and fluffy... He slowly faded back to dreamland.

Senku made sure to place Chrome in a more comfortable pose, the towel still covering his face. It was better that way. Senku didn't want to see Chrome in that condition, and he knew that Chrome would hate it if someone saw him like that.

Night came in a blink. Kohaku knocked on the shed of science's door but didn't hear any answer. She went in nevertheless. She saw as Senku sat by Chrome's bedside, sleeping while still being perfectly seated. How could he sleep like that? She left the food at the entrance and approached the scientist.

"Oi Senku, wake up," the girl said, shaking the poor sleeping scientist, trying to wake him up. Senku took a minute to wake up fully, yawning while trying to decipher the reason for Kohaku's visit.

"I brought dinner," she explained. "You need to eat something, we don't want you also going sick, do we?" She passed one of the ramen bowls down to Senku. She took the other and began eating.

"Don't worry, François made this one, so it's good," Kohaku said, taking another bite to her bowl.

Senku played along with the noodles, quietly eating. This ramen...it reminded him of a certain dinner at home back in the old world, but he couldn't seem able to recall it. He remembered Taiju coming over for a sleepover at his house, or at least, someone that kinda looked like him. The pair kept eating their dinner in silence.

"So? How is him?" Kohaku asked, signalling at Chrome with her head.

"He woke up earlier. His fever is down, so he should be ok by tomorrow" Senku answered. Kohaku smiled at him, finishing her bowl.

"You should get some rest. I'll keep watch on him tonight."

Senku looked at her, sighting.

"You are experienced in taking care of sick people, right? I bet you're ten billion percent ready for the job"

They exchanged a serious, determined look.

"Right, after all, I also need to sleep," Senku concluded. Gen popped up into the shed.

"Hello~? Can I steal you away, Senku-chan?"

"What do you want, mentalist?"

"Well, it's about the boat... Someone needs to be in charge while you're here attending to Chrome, so I was hoping to know your opinion?"

"What are you talking about?" Senku pointed at Gen "Didn't I give you instructions already? You're in charge. I would let Ryusui be the one in charge, but he's too passionate."

Gen took a moment to process the news

"That's gonna cost you, Senku-chan"

"The boat would need barrels for storing potable water. I'll make sure a few of them are full of cola. All the cola you could ever drink, what do you say, mentalist?" Senku smiled. Gen knew it was his crazy scientist smile.

"If something catches fire, it'll be your poor choosing skills fault"

"I have already taken lots of poor choices in the past, but look at me: I'm still here and I don't regret one millimetre of it"

Gen went into the shed, going upstairs

"I'm going to sleep. You should too, Senku-chan. Tomorrow will be a busy day after all, right? We'll be working on the sails..."

Senku smiled. “Yeah, whatever." He stood up, following the newly proclaimed leader.

"Good night, you two. I'll let you know if something happens." Kohaku looked at Chrome. He was always so lively... Seeing him like that broke her heart.

She had never seen the boy sick before, so it was a surprise to hear that he has fallen ill at all. She knew that Chrome was human, but some kind of sorcery (well, science) kept him from falling ill. Was it the herbs he found while searching for something that could heal Ruri? Was it something else? She never knew. What she knew is that her friend was sick and she'll do whatever it takes to make sure he recovered as fast as possible.

She looked at Chrome once again. She heard him mumbling in his sleep, but all of it was nonsense to her. She wondered what kind of dream he was having. Chrome smiled and Kohaku was happy to know that whatever he was dreaming about, it was something good. She'd have to ask him once he woke up.


	3. Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;u; this is about to get ✨emotional✨ so buckle up, kiddos!

**MAY 8TH, DREAM WORLD**

Chrome didn't expect to wake up in the same place he slept in. How much time had it been? He didn't know. Usually, he could tell the passage of time since it always matched up with the real world, but this was no ordinary dream.

How much time had he been sleeping for? How much time has passed in the real world? Why was this dream different from others? Why was he there at all?

Chrome began to order his mind: somehow, he was in the world before the collapse. The world Senku was born and raised in. A world with a technology he couldn't even understand.

His mind clicked. Maybe he could search for clues about the petrification event, he could learn things about the old world and bring that knowledge with him. After all, knowledge was his weapon, a weapon he could use in the future.

Chrome glazed upon the room. In the daylight, the lab room looked astonishing. Glass and metal artefacts reflected the sun, almost blinding him. It truly looked like a piece of heaven.

He snapped out of it and went to find Senku. It wasn't hard to find him, as he was in the dining room having breakfast. The smell of breakfast came from the kitchen, making his stomach growl.

"Morning sleepyhead, you sure took your time" Senku looked at him. He was already dressed up, perfect spiky hair and ready to face another day. On the contrary, Chrome was a mess: still on his pijama, bed hair and the face of a 10-year old that had to wake up early on a Sunday.

Chrome sat down at the table, trying to not fall asleep again. Weird. He usually had energetic mornings, but he was extra tired today. He wondered if it had to do with this strange dream he was having.

He fully woke up as he saw Byakuya place a plate of warm food in front of him. He felt a tie on his neck and his heart falling to his gut. For a moment, time seemed to freeze. In the daylight, it was clear that Senku was his son. Chrome could also pinpoint some resemblance between Byakuya and people from the village. He couldn't get over the fact that he was in front of the founder of Ishigami Village.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Time resumed again when Chrome heard Byakuya's voice. Chrome couldn't find the words to answer to Byakuya. His voice was completely gone, he felt like he forgot how to speak, his head was full and empty at the same time.

"Are you ok? Do you know where you are?"

Chrome just nodded. Byakuya felt relieved.

"C'mon eat something, it will make you feel better"

Chrome glazed down at his plate as he took a spoonful of what seemed to be snow topped with several vegetables. It was good, really good. What kind of food it was, he couldn't tell. After finishing his plate, he felt better.

"I'll show you something interesting if you come with me," Senku inquired. Chrome was confused.

"Where are we going?"

"Kukuku, already curious, aren't ya? I'm sure you'll like it one billion percent, but first, you need some clothes. I'm sure we have the same size..." Senku grabbed Chrome's hand as they made it to Senku's bedroom. Senku opened the closet and grabbed one of the spare uniforms he had.

"C'mon, try this on, I'm sure you can fit on it" Senku made his way out of the bedroom to give the boy time to change. Chrome looked at the uniform: it felt familiar holding it in front of him. He blinked, and then something unexpected happened:

The best way to describe it is that Chrome was everywhere at once. He could see everything, hear everything, feel everything, taste everything. He couldn't move, but at the same time, he was moving. The next time he blinked, it was all gone.

Chrome fell into the floor, overwhelmed. What happened? He couldn't tell. What he could tell is that he was not at Senku's house anymore.

He was sitting by a tree on a hill, he saw Senku, Taiju and Yuzuriha setting up...some kind of thing? The thing's shape was a cylinder with a cone hat and some triangles attached to it. Then, he remembered what it was: a rocket.

"Well, everything is ready" Senku's voice broke the silence.

As he tried to talk, he noticed that he couldn't. And more important: it seemed like nobody paid him any attention. Like they couldn't see him at all. Chrome felt weird to see that the rules to his dreams suddenly came back, but it was better like that.

Chrome saw as fire came out of the bottom of the rocket and it began to lift into the air, way up in the sky. He began to wonder how something like that could fly like a bird, but he knew eventually it would fall down, as all objects do when you throw them into the air. And then it did.

"So? Did it work?" Taiju's voice seemed preoccupied

"It didn't make it into orbit, but..." Senku took a look into the black square thing, as it showed 3 figurines floating away in a black background. Chrome knew it had to have a scientific explanation, but right now the black square thing seemed magical. He saw as Taiju celebrated, but Senku didn't look so happy.

"Why did it fail? Was it the weight?...no, those dolls couldn't be heavy enough. The shape? Nah, it would have fallen earlier. The speed? No, I made sure to calculate it several times.. what was it, then?" Chrome didn't understand a thing of what Senku was saying, but it seems like the rocket wasn't supposed to fall down. He also wondered why it failed...

"Hmm if you're trying to climb up a mountain, there's less air at the top, so it is harder to keep climbing. Maybe something similar happened? It just...ran out of air?" Chrome knew Senku couldn't hear him, but for a moment, their eyes met.

"I didn't change the speed...It was ok when it launched, but I was not when it reached the atmosphere. How did I forget such a huge detail?"

Taiju and Yuzuriha looked at each other

"I'm sure you'll get it next time, bud" Taiju placed his hand at Senku's shoulder.

"Yeah" Senku looked at Chrome again.

"I sure hope so"

Chrome felt a shiver all over his body and then the world faded to black.

* * *

**JUNE 3RD, REALITY**

That night, Kohaku didn't get a lot of sleep. She saw as Chrome began twitching and mumbling in his sleep. Was he having a nightmare? She looked at her friend and noticed he was paler than usual, he also felt colder than he did before. He was getting worse.

"Chrome..." She knew he was gonna make it through this, Senku told her he was going to get better, but... Something was wrong, and Kohaku didn't have any idea of what it was. Luckily, the mumble seemed to stop, but it looked like Chrome was in pain.

A few hours later, she heard as the boy began panting and coughing. She knew that sound pretty well: the horrifying sound of someone trying to breathe even if they can't, trying to hold on to life.

Her sister described it as 'drowning in dry land' and to Kohaku, it was the worst sound of the entire world. Hearing it coming from Chrome of all people felt like a knife in her heart, like the whole universe worked so Chrome could get a taste of Ruri's illness, that illness he tried to cure for years, the illness that made him meet Senku, the illness that made him build such incredible things...

Kohaku didn't remember the last time she felt so hopeless, the entire world seemed to be falling apart. She didn't think she could care so much about Chrome, but after everything they had gone through...Kohaku couldn't hold back the tears.

"Please Chrome, you have to keep breathing... we're not going to finish that boat without you! There's so much to see...I'm sure there's a lot of incredible inventions that you still have to make... so please, please...keep breathing"

She could feel her voice shaking, just like the rest of her body. She held Chrome in her arms, giving him a hug. She tried her best to not squeeze, to let airflow between the two of them. A grim reminder hit her: Chrome could die. She knew that he was a fighter and won't give up that easily, but whatever he was fighting against could win.

Kohaku didn't care about higher powers or gods, and she knew Chrome didn't even believe in that kind of stuff, but for the first time in her life, Kohaku closed her eyes and made a silent petition:

"Please, if you can hear me, whoever it is...let him live"

* * *

**JUNE 3RD, DREAM WORLD**

When Chrome woke up, he wasn't on Earth. He tried to know where he was, but he didn't know. He was...somewhere. Looking at his feet, the ground was a rocky grey. The...sky? Was black, he watched as rocks floated away on it. Some of them were huge, others were small, but they all were spinning around at different speeds. There also was a giant ball of light and fire.

_It couldn't be._

He searched around for it, there was no way it could be true. He began to run in an uncertain direction and he froze when he saw it over the horizon: a small, blue roundish orb. **_Earth._**

There was no doubt, Senku told him how Earth looked like from space and it matched the description perfectly. If he was looking at Earth, he had to be... "I'm on the Moon" Chrome couldn't believe it, was anything of this real? Was he truly on the Moon? How? Why?

For the second time in his life, Chrome really felt like he was dreaming. The view took away his breath, as he let go of the many questions filling his mind. For a moment, it was just him and the view. He wondered a little bit and recognized some other planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter.... He saw meteors and stuff around the earth performing a beautiful dance only he could see.

The universe seemed so big, and Earth seemed so small. Chrome began to understand what Senku told him the night he talked about the old world: "humans are small, but humanity has accomplished great things."

"What a view, huh? I never get tired of it"

Chrome didn't expect to hear someone else, so when he heard Byakuya's voice coming from his left, he didn't know how to react.

"Don't look away now, you don't want to miss it"

Chrome saw as a green light covered the Earth. The view was astonishing, and for a second, the blue planet turned into a green jewel. As the glow faded away, he heard Byakuya again: "Humanity has just turned into stone"

Chrome's eyes widened. He heard Senku talk about the green light that turned humanity into stone, but now that he saw how it happened, he truly understood: in a few minutes, thousands of years of human progress, everything he had experienced since the freaky time-travelling experience began, everyone he met...everything was gone.

Sadness and frustration mixed together inside of Chrome as all the memories since he began this freaky trip to the past finally came back to him. His mind and body couldn't take it anymore, Chrome collapsed to the floor, panting, as he bid goodbye to whatever was in his stomach.

He began to cry, he didn't care about who could hear him anymore. He felt horrible, nothing made sense, he was lost and scared. He wanted this freaky tip to be over, go back home and keep working on the boat with Senku and everyone else.

"Shh, it's ok son, just keep breathing" When Byakuya mentioned it, Chrome realised he couldn't seem to breathe like there wasn't any air anymore. His body felt cold and heavy, his chest felt hot, everything hurt and his head was spinning. He felt a little bit better when Byakuya placed his hands on his shoulders.

"I...I want to go home..." Chrome could barely speak. Byakuya lifted Chrome as he carried him away in his arms. Chrome immediately felt everything fading away...he felt himself fading away.

"Ok then, let's get you back to your body"

Chrome let himself fall into nothingness.

* * *

**JUNE 3RD, REALITY**

After the awful night he had, the day didn't treat Chrome much better, as his breathing got weaker as time passed. When he stopped breathing, Kohaku noticed right away and let everyone know in the most horrible of ways: a scream that everyone in miles away could have heard. The first ones to run to the science shed were Kinro and Ginro.

"Kohaku! What-" When Kinro saw the girl as she cried over Chrome's body, He rushed into her side. "Don't tell me..."

Kohaku hugging him as she grabbed on his chest crying, only confirmed the worst.

"I'll go get Senku!" Ginro didn't even go in the shed when he jumped down the ladder (with not a pretty landing, but who cares anyway?) And ran over Senku, who was discussing sail-making with Yuzuriha, Ryusui, Kaseki and Gen.

"S-senku-kun! C...Chrome is..." Ginro's body began to shake as he tried to hold back the tears. He didn't have to finish the sentence for Senku to rush to the science shed.

"No, nonononono _**NO**_ -” Senku’s mind began to race as he made it to the shed. He never ran so quick in all his life (well, running from hungry lions came in close second place), his legs were burning, but it was nothing compared to what he was about to experience.

When Senku came in, he saw Kohaku crying and Kinro trying to calm her down.

"Both of you, get out" Senku commanded.

"Senku..." Muttered Kinro

"Get. Out"

Kinro nodded, as he guided Kohaku out of the shed. Senku waited a precious second before rushing up to Chrome. His whole body was shaking, it couldn't be true, could it? He checked for breathing and pulse...nothing. Chrome wasn't breathing, his heart didn't beat.

"No...no, please, you can't...you can't be dead! Do you hear me?! You can't die yet!" Senku began performing CPR. Or at least, as best as he could with his whole body shaking.

"Shit- **Kinro!** "

Kinro's head peeked into the shed.

"Do you need help?"

Senku nodded. Kinro made it into the shed, looking as Senku made a weird thing with his hands.

"Look, I need you to focus because I'm gonna teach you something that could save Chrome's life. You need to stay calm and do what I tell you to do, understood?"

Kinro took a deep breath.

"I'm ready, tell me what you need me to do"

Kinro had never seen Senku in that state before, he saw as the scientist tried to explain him what CPR was and how to perform it, but Senku's voice was broken: he stuttered, he had to take breaks, he tried his best to show him visually, but his hands wouldn't stop shaking up.

Senku looked like he was at the verge of tears, and 5 minutes in, the poor scientist couldn't take it anymore and began to cry softly, as he didn't want Kinro to notice. Kinro did notice, but he didn't say anything about it.

"It's ok, Senku. We'll figure it out. You just need to calm down, ok? Let's take a deep breath together, ok?" Kinro took a deep breath. Senku followed.

"Good, now do it like 5 more times. I'll keep up this...'se-pi-ara' thing"

Senku let out a little laugh hearing Kinro butchering the pronunciation of CPR. Senku looked at Chrome, it was devastating to know that a few days ago, he was so excited to begin working on the boat project. Now there he was, lying in bed, dead.

Senku moved Chrome's hair out of his face. It was the first time he saw Chrome's face since this whole ordeal started: He was pale as snow, the only bits of colour left were his pink cheeks and forehead.

His forehead was still warm, so there was the hope of seeing him wake up again. Senku closed his eyes and for the first time in his whole life, he made a silent prayer. He didn’t believe in any gods, but maybe there was another person who could hear him.

"Dad, please...if you can hear me...bring him back" Senku felt a chill down his spine, was it cold all of a sudden?

_"Sorry for taking so long, son. Took me a while to find his soul"_

Senku opened his eyes and looked in front of him in shock. Did he really just hear his father's voice?

"Dad?..." Calling out to him was stupid, he was dead, but...

"S-Senku! He's alive!"

Senku looked at Kinro, the poor guard was exhausted, but happy. It had been 15 awful minutes.

Senku made sure to check on Chrome himself. He placed a hand on Chrome's wrist and felt his heartbeat. Then, under his nose...he was breathing. Senku was still shaking and crying...but now, it was for a different reason: relief.

"He is...you did it. Good job, Kinro. Without you, he would be dead"

Kinro blushed at Senku's words.

"Ah, it was nothing compared to your instructions."

Kinro didn't expect Senku's hug, but he accepted it nevertheless.

"It's ok, Senku. it's over"

Senku closed his eyes and, when he opened them again, for a moment, Senku saw his father in front of him, smiling. Then, he closed them once again...

* * *

Kinro noticed Senku falling asleep, but didn't bother to wake him up. He made sure to leave the scientist in a comfortable position besides Chrome and left the science shed.

He saw everyone gathered around it, each one experiencing a different stage of grief. Some of them were still in denial, some of them were crying, some of them were angry, and others were already accepting the fact Chrome was dead. Kinro didn't know he was crying and shaking until he fell to the ground as soon as he made it downstairs.

"He...he made it. He's ok...He's alive"

Everyone felt a wave of relief. Some of them just smiled, others sighted, others broke down in tears. Ginro went over his brother and hugged him.

"I'm so proud of you" Ginro was a mess, so it wasn't like Kinro could actually understand Ginro between all the mumbling and sobbing, but he understood him nevertheless. Ruri fell into the ground, looking at the sky.

"Are you ok?" Kohaku looked at her as she saw her sister covering her eyes with her arms, crying.

"Yeah, I'll be-"

"Mind if I join you?" That said, Kohaku hugged her sister as both of them shared a cry of relief.

Kaseki was glad Chrome was alive, but not to the point of crying. Ok, maybe he let out a tear or two. Suika was so happy that Chrome was ok! She let out a happy cry and celebrated.

Magma didn't want to recognize that he was worried about Chrome, so when he heard the good news, he just sat on the floor, relieved. He let out a silent cry (but he wouldn't admit as such!)

6 hours went by. Work on the boat finally resumed, but without the two scientists assisting them, everything was slow.

Gen thought about sneaking out to check on Senku and Chrome, but he was in charge for the moment, so he tried to do his best to make sure Senku made him more cola. Also, he knew both scientists needed a break anyway.

When Chrome regained consciousness, he opened his eyes a little bit, but couldn't see anything. Everything was dizzy. What just happened? He felt warm and cosy, was someone else with him? He could feel a pair of arms embracing him.

 _"Take care of each other, ok?_ " A familiar yet unknown voice brought a chill down his spine. Was it warmer all of a sudden? He closed his eyes again as he kept sleeping...

When Senku woke up, he found himself embracing Chrome. As he let go, he focused on his face. It looked a lot better, but he would need time to recover.

Senku noticed the change in temperature in his sleep and wondered what all of that was about. Did his father really...? He stood up as he stretched his body. Then he looked outside the shed, smiling.

"Thank you, dad..." He said out loud. _"...This is stupid"_ he added mentally. He heard Chrome mumble and then, he opened his eyes.

"Ah, look who's got back" Senku sat down at Chrome's side, to make him move as little as possible.

"What...happened?" Chrome stayed in bed. His head felt so light....

"Well, you fell ill 3 days ago. And then you were gone for 15 minutes. I think it's been 8 hours since that, since I also fell asleep when you came back"

Chrome began to process what Senku was telling him.

"Gone?"

"Dead, Chrome. You were dead. For 15 minutes."

Silence fell into the shed of science.

**"THAT'S BAAAAAAAD!!!"**

If somebody didn't get the news of Chrome being alive, his scream made sure to remind everyone.

"No, like **actually** bad! I **was** dead!? Like, I'm not dead anymore?? How does that work??!?!!"

Senku pulled a finger to his ear.

"Ah, you have to thank Kinro for that. If it wasn't for him, you would be gone for good"

Chrome couldn't believe what he was hearing. He came back to life after dying. How many people could pull that off?

"Holy shit..." Chrome sat down in the bed. He felt ok, he still had to recover, but it wouldn't get worse than almost dying, he could tell as much.

"So, how was it? Did you see a light? Did your life flash before your eyes?" Senku's questions didn't help cope with the information Chrome was receiving.

"I...remember...I was in space? I did see a light. There was...someone there, with me. I think they helped me come back."

Senku listened carefully to Chrome's experience on the other side.

"Someone?" Senku could already predict where the conversation led to.

"Call me crazy, but...you remember the voice on the glass record? The one you said belonged to your father? I think...I think it was him. He was the one that helped me come back"

And there it was, Senku let out a laugh, confusing Chrome.

"So I didn't imagine it, then. He was really here... That old man doesn't leave me alone even if he's dead" Senku pulled his hair up. "Take care of each other, huh?"

When he heard the phrase leave Senku's lips, Chrome's eyes widened in surprise.

"You heard that too? So I wasn't hallucinating?"

Senku looked at Chrome, his eyes shining with excitement, confusion and surprise.

"Yeah, I don't know why I could hear him, but it seems like he did his part in bringing you back. Also, let's keep this between you and me, ok? Don't want people to freak out about a ghost. Also, it looks like he's already gone"

Chrome listened carefully to what Senku had to say about hi little journey to the afterlife.

"Yeah, but... isn't it cool to know he still watches over you?"

Chrome smiled and Senku felt his face blushing up.

"Yeah, I suppose. Anyway, you're still going to stay here at least until tomorrow, I don't wanna risk it"

Senku pushed Chrome down and the two scientists fell into the bed. Chrome was too weak and Senku pushed a little too hard. They both laughed it out. Senku gave Chrome a forehead kiss and stood up once again.

"I'm getting back to work. You stay here and rest, okay?"

"Hey, Senku...thank you for everything"

"...no problem"

* * *

**JUNE 5TH, REALITY**

Ah, yes, another peaceful morning in the kingdom of science.

After almost a week, Chrome finally left the shed and breathed fresh air. It was cold, but he was glad everything was over. The first order of business: finding Kinro. As usual, he was sparing with Kohaku (and Ginro, but he was sleeping)

"Morning" Chrome greeted. Both fighters looked at him and dropped their weapons.

"Chrome!"

Chrome saw as both Kohaku and Kinro ran to him, trapping him in a big hug.

"Oh, thank the heavens you're ok! Are you ok? Don't EVER scare me like that again! I...I thought..." Kohaku's voice broke up "...I thought you were dead"

Chrome smiled at the girl. Senku updated him on everything that happened while he was out, so he knew that Kohaku was the one to realise he was...gone.

"It's ok. I actually came here to thank both of you. Especially you, Kinro. Without you, I would be dead" Chrome pulled Kinro in for a hug. The guard sighed and hugged him back.

“My duty as the village’s guard is to make sure everyone is safe. And that includes you too, Chrome. So it was nothing, I was just doing my duty” Kinro saw Chrome’s face as he looked at him with a smile on his face.

“Still, you saved my life. You too, Kohaku, come here!”

But Kohaku was faster than Chrome trying to hug her.

“Oh no, you’re getting a hug too!”

“Keep dreaming, sorcerer”

What followed was quite a scene: Chrome chasing Kohaku down (or at least trying) in circles, while Kinro saw it trying not to laugh (and failing) Chrome finally gave up, panting from all the running. It was good to be able to move again, but this was a little too much for him.

“Okay, you win, jeez”

Chrome waved the duo goodbye, heading to the place where the boat was being built. When Chrome arrived at where the boat was being built, it was like a party. Everyone patted his back, hugged him, welcomed him back...

The weirdest interaction he had was when Magma approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re still alive” And with that said, Magma wandered off.

When he finally arrived with Senku, Gen and Ryusui, Ryusui wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

"Look who's back! Now, I know you have been through a lot, so why don't you help us with our newest creation?"

Chrome's eyes lit up.

"What are you guys making?" Chrome asked with wonder.

"Hot air balloons" Senku answered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the fic! Please, let me know what you think of it!


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